


Worthy of Mars

by RobberBaroness



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M, Fallout Kink Meme, Forced Marriage, Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-28
Updated: 2013-02-28
Packaged: 2017-12-03 21:32:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/702854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobberBaroness/pseuds/RobberBaroness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Legionary is given a wife.  When he tries to be kind to her, he finds that he has just as little choice as she regarding their marital duties.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Legion may have worshiped Mars, but you would have been hard-pressed to find two priestesses with exactly the same dogma. If you asked every woman in a temple what she thought the nature of Mars was, you would find more answers than you could possibly make sense of; he was a father, he was a lover, he was a general, he was a terrifying force of nature that created as he destroyed. The best thing for a devout Legionary to do was to offer his sacrifices and leave the priestesses to argue it out among themselves.

Hadrian had never done that, though. Ever since he'd been a child given to the temple to raise, he'd listened to the words of the women and taken them to heart. A priestess called Constantina had especially influenced him, and before he was taken away to serve as a soldier, he'd had time to ask her about the ways of husbands and wives.

"The best marriage," she had said, "comes from union of two servants of Mars, not a conqueror and a prize. Only if the man and woman see each other as worthy will children fit for Mars be raised, strong sons and healthy daughters."

"Then why," Hadrian had asked, "do the women who come to pray here look so unhappy? Why is it so rare for me to see affection between a man and woman when they come here together?"

Constantina had pursed her lips before answering. "Caesar is the son of Mars, but he is not the god himself. He gives unwilling brides to his soldiers because he feels it is necessary, in this time of war and low birth. It will change someday. It must, if the Legion is to survive."

Constantina's words might have been heresy, but as a youth Hadrian had not been one to cast judgement upon the words of a priestess. He hoped to marry someday, to a woman who fit the description she gave; proud, loyal, and willing to come to his bed of her own free will. Perhaps this was why he reached the age of twenty-one as a virgin.

After one battle, though, Hadrian distinguished himself well enough that he was given a gift. A centurion commended him on his bravery, and said he had earned the right to take a wife. With those words, he shoved forward a small blonde woman, her green eyes downcast, and told Hadrian to enjoy himself.

Hadrian thought she looked too skinny to bear healthy children, but he'd said his thanks and taken her back to his tent.

The woman went in ahead of him and lay down on his bedroll expectantly. Skinny or not, she was pretty, and hard work would give her more muscle. He would have joined her if only she had looked at him, instead of staring at the ceiling like a woman already dead.

"You. What's your name?"

"I thought you would give me a new one." The woman's voice sounded like she was reading the lines in a play, her words memorized and drilled into her mind.

"I'm not creative. I'll use the one you came with."

"Laura."

A simple name. Easy to remember. Hadrian said nothing in response, only watching Laura lie stock-still on the bedroll until she spoke for him.

"Are you waiting for something?"

"I suppose not. Just restless. Go ahead and sleep, I'm going to take a walk."

He had begun to lift the tent flap when she spoke again.

"Don't go soft on my account. I've already been raped by four of your friends. You can't hurt me any worse."

"I said, go to sleep. I'll join you soon."

And after a quick walk in the chilly desert air, Hadrian did join her. He slept beside her on the bedroll, his shoulder touching hers, and taking her position staring at the ceiling.


	2. Chapter 2

That first night set the general tone for Hadrian's married life. He would fight by day, then come home and lie beside his wife, touching her as little as possible. She didn't wait for him anymore; she would wander the camp under supervision with the other men's wives, and only come back when he sent for her. She didn't speak to him unless spoken to, and never tried to touch him either. The only time he heard any passion in her was when she talked in her sleep one night, crying out the name "Alex."

That morning, Hadrian finally broke the silence between them.

"Where are you from, Laura?"

"Nipton."

"A lottery winner, then."

"Winner. Yes. Me and my husband both won third place." Finally she looked him in the eye, free of anger or love or any emotion at all. "We won the chance for me to be gang-raped in front of him, as he was tied up and screaming my name, begging them to let me go, to hurt him however they wanted if they'd only let me go."

Hadrian shook his head, almost desperately.

"He didn't. No one in Nipton raised a hand to save their loved ones from harm. That's why they deserved death."

Laura laughed for the first time since Hadrian had known her, harsh and cold.

"You believe that? Even criminals love their families. Only the Legion doesn't."

Hadrian came close to striking her for that, and she was clearly bracing herself for it. She had to be lying, trying to make him doubt his superiors- she had to be. He could teach her to respect her betters easily, just by taking hold of that yellow hair and throwing her to the ground, making her his wife in more than just name.

He turned away from Laura instead.

"Where's Alex now?"

"They took him to a raid camp. That's the last I ever saw of him. Aren't you going to punish me?"

"I don't care if you lie. Say what you like, it makes no difference. You're just a slave, and I don't even want you."

Hadrian opened the tent flap again, preparing for yet another nighttime walk.

"Not like this, anyway."


	3. Chapter 3

It was a bit of a relief when Hadrian was assigned to guarding Cottonwood Cove. There had already been one attack on it by the Courier and her soldier friend, and security was being tightened in case of another. More important than the work he would be doing, though, was the fact that he'd be traveling and sleeping alone. After hearing her story (lies or not,) he had been unable to even share his bedroll with Laura. Sometimes he hated her for forcing her presence upon him, and sometimes he pitied her (which was much worse); either way, perhaps being by himself meant he would finally get a good night's sleep.

The dashing of those hopes should have been the first sign that something was wrong.

"Orders are for you to take her with you," he was told when he thought he was ready to leave.

"Isn't that against protocol?"

"Are you questioning your orders, soldier?"

"Of course not, sir. I'll take her along."

Laura didn't seem to care much about a change of location. She'd been eating better than when she'd first arrived at the camp, and looked less like a hungry ghost. Even so, with her beside him on the raft, Hadrian felt like he was accompanying Proserpina to the underworld. Despite the nausea it induced in him, he held on tightly to her arms during the trip to keep her from jumping into the water. She didn't try to break out of his grasp.

Aside from the trip, the rest of Hadrian's day seemed to be going according to routine. He left Laura in his tent under guard, and patrolled the area for any sign of First Recon berets. He was relieved of duty at night, another soldier taking his place, and went to rest with his wife.

When he entered his tent, he saw Laura lying down as she had on their "wedding night." Before he could ask her what she was doing, he heard the click of a safety catch, and turned around to see a gun pointed at his head.

The voice that followed was new to Hadrian, but he at least recognized the face. Alerio, the young man always in the shadow of Vulpes Inculta. While his superior was charged with watching the strip and the wasteland, no one really knew what young Alerio's job description was. Obviously, the Frumentarii preferred it that way.

"Are you a sodomite?"

"What?"

"Are you a sodomite? Tell me now and your death will come free of torture."

"By Mars, I swear I'm not!" Hadrian's protestations were genuine, and genuinely baffled. Even if he'd found men appealing, no one these days was foolish enough to try and get away with such a thing- not if even a Centurion could be crucified for it. Did Hadrian have an unknown enemy trying to get him executed, spreading rumors and lies?

"Then why haven't you performed your duty with your wife?"

Of course. How Alerio knew, Hadrian had no idea, but he'd known somehow he couldn't get away with it forever.

"She is my slave, to do with as I see fit. How I use her does not concern you."

The words had barely escaped Hadrian's lips when Alerio struck him with the butt of his gun. Hadrian fell, his head throbbing, landing on the ground beside the ever-placid Laura. He knew better than to try and fight back, but oh how his soldier's soul had to be restrained!

"Your slave, soldier? You owe Caesar as much of a duty as she does to you, to be done with as he sees fit. You have not so much as made a single attempt to produce a child for the Legion! I ask again, are you a sodomite or simply impotent?"

"I don't fuck corpses!" Hadrian was surprised by his own outburst, but could hardly stop himself. "Look at her! She's been dead since Nipton. A child of hers would suckle blood from her breasts, if she didn't kill it upon arrival! She has no heart left to be a wife or a mother! I haven't consummated our marriage because the touch of such a creature repulses me."

Hadrian half-expected to be killed for insubordination, but Alerio seemed to have barely noticed.

"Your wife seems pliant enough now."

"She has no choice!"

"I know that, soldier." Alerio's cold face now bore a smile more horrible than his rage. "What I don't know is why you think you do."


	4. Chapter 4

Hadrian swallowed hard and looked at Laura again. He reached out to touch her bare shoulder, and she didn't pull away. It would have been nice to attribute this to growing fondness for him, but he hadn't been born a complete fool. Even with her eyes opened, she seemed somehow asleep, separated from the world, or at least from her own body. If she didn't move when he touched her, it might be because she barely noticed it.

"Leave us, then. I'll perform my duty as commanded."

"Soldier, you must have an alarming lack of respect for my intelligence. You've undressed in the barracks before, no need to be shy now."

Looking at the ground, Hadrian unbuckled his armor. It was true, he'd been naked in front of other men, but he'd been secure in the knowledge that if any of them stared at his body they'd be facing torture at the least. The last pair of eyes he'd been comfortable with seeing him undressed were those of the priestesses who had raised him.

Constantina would have been ashamed. He'd failed to win over a bride as an equal, and he was incapable of winning one over as a master.

Climbing atop Laura's reclining body, Hadrian heard her whisper something in his ear.

"It'll be worse for me if you don't. Just get it over with."

Pulling up her dress, Hadrian saw what he was meant to enjoy. Pretty enough, and maybe there would have been other circumstances under which he'd have enjoyed it. If only she would smile at him, if only he hadn't heard her cry out her husband's name at night- her true husband, the one she had chosen.

Hadrian's verbal refusal wasn't enough for Alerio but, he realized, that wasn't the only refusal he had.

"I can't- I'm not- not with another man watching."

Unfortunately, Alerio only laughed.

"Then tell your wife to arouse you with her hands or her mouth until you can. It's a very simple matter."

With no way out, Hadrian looked back at his wife.

"Help me." It was meant to sound like a command, not a plea. However it came out, it got through to her, and she sat up and pushed him back to his knees. She put her hands around his cock and started stroking rhythmically, almost mechanically. Hadrian was sure such a thing wouldn't be enough.

His mind was fearful and his heart was disgusted, but he soon felt his body turning traitor. Mechanical or not, Laura knew what she was doing (had she done it before for "Alex", actually looking that husband in the eye?) He wasn't as stiff as he had been during past nights alone, with only fantasies and his own hand to arouse him, but with a mixture of relief and despair, he felt jolts through his body as she stroked, growing less flaccid by the moment. When he felt he was in good enough shape, he nodded to Laura and she lay back down on the bedroll.

Entering a woman for the first time, Hadrian wasn't sure what to expect. What he knew he hadn't expected, though, was pain. It took a moment for Hadrian to realize why it felt so awful. It was the friction; he might have been a virgin, but he'd heard enough about sex to know that women grow wet when aroused, which was clearly not the case with Laura. He had to fight just to stay hard, not thinking about the discomfort or how much he might be hurting her, only that he had to get it over and done with.

Staring down at Laura's face as he thrusted, her blank expression made him feel vaguely sick. He knew she wasn't resisting him because it would have meant her life, but somehow that vacant look infuriated him, making him feel as though she was complicit with Alerio in hurting him. He shouldn't have felt like this, shouldn't have felt nauseated and abused by an act that men performed every day. He wasn't supposed to hate it, to hate himself for doing it and hate Laura for allowing it.

How long would he have to keep it up, keep awkwardly pumping and grunting, before he could claim he was done? For that matter, how could he fake being done- how was he supposed to act after a climax? He'd always averted his eyes when fellow soldiers had taken women during raids, and now he cursed his own cowardice. He should have been brave enough to watch and learn, or else to knock the gun from Alerio's hand and say Caesar's duty could go fuck itself. He should have been a warrior worthy of Mars, not a squirming failure fucking a shell of a woman.

He should have been happy when he felt the blood start to rush through his body. He should have been glad to know his work would soon be over, and that he could say he'd completed his duty without lying. But when Hadrian knew he was going to orgasm, all he wanted was to be able stop.

Not with Laura, not in front of Alerio. His body couldn't be responding to such torture, he couldn't be giving that bastard what he wanted, he couldn't be showing her that he was weak, he couldn't be shaking all over and trying not to cry, trying not to scream for someone to make what he was feeling stop, for the love of Mars just make it stop-

When he came, Hadrian collapsed on top of Laura, his body sweating and hers showing no sign of reaction at all. He pulled himself out of her, naked and trembling, and tried to ignore Alerio's mocking applause.

"We might not have to execute you after all, soldier. I will expect you to perform your duty at least three times a week. I may be checking up on you."

Hadrian looked at the spy for half a second before he had to look away. It was long enough to see that Alerio too was perspiring, though his flushed face bore a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

If Alerio had enjoyed it, he was the only one. Hadrian felt numb as he curled up into a corner, and Laura- who knew what Laura ever felt. Alone with Hadrian in the tent, she began to dress herself, tossing him his tunic. Hadrian made no move to pick it up.

Laura sighed, and her voice was as close to tender as it had been in a long, long time.

"Your first time, I guess. It doesn't get any easier, but the shock wears off."

Hadrian made no response.

"I know you didn't want to. I won't hold it against you."

Hadrian looked up at that, his head shaking and his eyes full of hatred.

"You won't hold it against me? How generous."

"Just trying to help-"

"You let him! You just lay there- as he made me- get away from me!"

Hadrian wouldn't cry, especially not in front of her. It was just as well, then, that he felt beyond tears. When Laura seemed to move toward him, he recoiled as if her fingers would burn him to the touch. If she'd been crying or trembling, it might have been better, but to be alone when he fell apart, when he crumbled after enacting what was, after all, only his duty...

Could he have fought Alerio if she had helped him? Probably not, but they could have done something, stood together somehow, if only she hadn't been given to him already broken. Maybe she'd even enjoyed it, silently laughing at seeing a Legionary reduced to a victim, violated without Alerio even touching him.

When the screams came from outside the tent, Hadrian didn't even turn his head to look. He only lowered his head again, willing the world away.

The shouts were interspersed with gunfire, and were deep in pitch- not the screams of women and children tortured in the slave pens, but of soldiers being taken by surprise. Hadrian had been told how to respond to this, and been trained to fight during ambushes. If he grabbed a weapon and ran out to join his comrades in arms now, he would have only lost a few minutes worth of preparation time.

It was easier to just stay huddled on the ground, though, and that's what he did. If Fiends or raiders or NCR dogs had come to massacre them, he'd rather die naked and alone than for Alerio's cause. If he couldn't perform his duty as a soldier while alive, he wouldn't in death, either.

When the flap of the tent opened, he didn't even bother to shield himself.

"Don't worry, blondie- we're getting you out!" The voice was female, unfamiliar to Hadrian's ears. Finally curious, he glanced up to see the strangers, a woman and a man without uniforms, only red caps on their heads. They were focused on Laura, and he wasn't sure they even realized he was there.

That is, until the man swung his sniper rifle in Hadrian's direction and uttered a curse. He braced himself for the end, but Laura jumped forward and grabbed the side of the rifle.

"No, don't shoot! He- he tried to help me."

She looked back down at Hadrian and his cast-aside armor.

"They tortured him for it."

The strange woman nodded at the man, then turned back to her.

"Is your name Laura?"

"How do you-"

"We found your husband at the raid camp. Legs are fucked up, but he's alive. Come on, we've got to hurry!"

Laura made a sound that Hadrian could barely identify, except as some sort of strangled cry. Her face, however, not only bore the first smile he'd ever seen on her, but was the sort of expression he hadn't imagined she could ever make again. Without a second glance, she ran out of the tent, the red-capped man following her.

"You too. Hurry!"

The strange woman tossed Hadrian her coat.

"We've got doctors in Freeside if you need it, but you've got to get moving."

As if in a trance, Hadrian slid the coat on and staggered to his feet. A real warrior would never look back. A real warrior would be found on the winning side. He would follow orders and march after leaders and have any number of other such rationalizations for following the strangers out of camp.

Hadrian didn't even bother, though. He followed the Courier and her soldier because he was tired and weak and wanted a place to lie down far from the slave pens. Later on, he could think over his life and curse his cowardice, knowing himself a traitor for abandoning everything he knew.

For now, though, he could play the part of a soldier one more time and march into the unknown.


End file.
